2012 Helpmann Award Winners Announced

The 2012 Helpmann Awards®, celebrating excellence and achievement in 41 categories of live performance in Australia, were announced at a Black Tie ceremony at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, on September 24.

Just a year after Nancye Hayes was recognised with a J. C. Williamson Lifetime Achievement Award, she picked up the 2012 Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, in Grey Gardens. It  was one of three awards The Production Company picked up for its Melbourne-based, low budget, short single city run Australian premiere, stealing the limelight from the big budget musicals. A Chorus Line took out the Best Musical ‘Bobby’.

On the dramatic front, the STC’s Gross und Klein (Big and Small) scored two awards for Best Director (Benedict Andrews) and Best Female Actor in a Play (Cate Blanchett (featured in the image above - photographer: Lisa Tomasetti), while Paul Capsis and Griffin’s Angela’s Kitchen took out the Best Male Actor in a Play and New Australian Work awards. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, presented by Back to Back Theatre and Malthouse Theatre, took out Best Play.

On the Opera front, both Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on the Harbour La Traviata and the State Opera of South Australia’s Moby Dick took out multiple awards. Moby Dick was recognized as the best Opera production, while La Traviata shared the Best Special Event Bobby. Emma Matthews pictured right in La Traviata, took out Best Female Performer in an Opera, her seventh Helpmann Award. Photographer: Lindsay Kearney. (Read more about Moby Dick here.)

Meow Meow’s Little Match Girl garnered three awards.

Simon Burke hosted his seventh Helpmann Awards Ceremony, which included performances by the casts of Cirque du Soleil, The South Pacific Company, and The Chorus Line Company; Artistes from The Australian Ballet; from A Long Way to the Top – Marcia Hines, Jon Stevens, Brian Cadd, Doug Parkinson and Ian Moss; and Aston, Dan Sultan with a Tribute to Jimmy Little AO, and Bernadette Robinson.

Burke opened proceedings with a musical sequence about his Helpmann Award nerves, based on ‘Another Opening, Another Show’, and A Chorus Line, supported by appearances including Bobby Helpmann himself, channeled by Helpmann winner Peter Carroll.

Award Presenters included Amanda Bishop, Blake Bowden, Bille Brown AM, BryanBrown AM, Darcey Bussell CBE, Daniel Carter, Kate Ceberano, Gerry Connolly, Li Cunxin, Cameron Daddo, Lucy Durack, Marta Dusseldorp, Amanda Harrison, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Genevieve Lemon, Matt Lee, David McAllister AM, Lisa McCune, Rob Mills, Simon Phillips, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Leo Schofield AM, The Hon. George Souris, Stuart Wagstaff AM, and John Waters.

Australia’s own Tony Award host Hugh Jackman was the evening’s surprise final presenter, announcing the Best Musical winner.

The ceremony moved along at a far snappier pace this year, thanks to the fact that the TV broadcast will be live this year, rather than direct broadcasts of previous years. Even so, it was still long night.

Following the Awards Ceremony guests enjoyed an After Party at Marquee at The Star.

 

The 2012 Helpmann Award Winners

 

Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical

Bert LaBonte - An Officer and a Gentleman - Sharleen Cooper Cohen, John Frost

Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical

Nancye Hayes - Grey Gardens- The Production Company

Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play

Bob Hornery - The Importance of Being Earnest - Melbourne Theatre Company

Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play

Robyn Nevin - Summer of the Seventeenth Doll - Belvoir

Best Costume Design

Toni Maticevski and Richard Nylon - Aviary: A Suite for the Bird

Phillip Adams BalletLab in Melbourne Festival 2011

Best Scenic Design

Brian Thomson - La Traviata

Opera Australia - Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Best Lighting Design

Paul Jackson - Little Match Girl - Malthouse Theatre in association with Meow Meow Revolution

Best Sound Design

Tony David Cray  - La Traviata - Opera Australia - Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Best International Contemporary Concert

Prince Welcome 2 Australia - Prince, presented by Van Egmond Group and Chugg Entertainment

Best Contemporary Music Festival

MONA FOMA - Museum of Old and New Art

Best Australian Contemporary Concert

Kylie Aphrodite Les Folies Tour 2011 - Kylie Minogue and The Frontier Touring Company

Best Choreography in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production

Stephen Page - IDfrom Belong - Bangarra Dance Theatre

Best Choreography in a Musical

Kelly Devine - Rock of Ages - Rodney Rigby and the Rock of Ages Australia Management LLC

Best Direction of a Musical

Roger Hodgman - Grey Gardens - The Production Company

Best Direction of an Opera

Leonard Foglia - Moby Dick- State Opera of South Australia

Best Direction of a Play

Benedict Andrews - Gross und Klein (Big and Small) - Sydney Theatre Company

Best Special Event

La Traviata - Opera Australia – Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

and

Lotterywest Festival Celebration: Place Des Anges by Les Studios De Cirque - 2012 Perth International Arts Festival

Best Original Score

David Page and Steve Francis – Belong- Bangarra Dance Theatre

Best Individual Classical Music Performance

Evgeny Kissin - Presented by Sydney Symphony and Brisbane Festival

Best Chamber &/or Instrumental Ensemble Concert

Tafelmusik 'The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres' - Musica Viva Australia

Best Symphony Orchestra Concert

Evgeny Kissin Plays Chopin - Sydney Symphony

Best Music Direction

Iain Grandage - Little Match Girl- Malthouse Theatre in association with Meow Meow Revolution

Best Male Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera

Grant Doyle  - Moby Dick- State Opera of South Australia

Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera

Orla Boylan – Elektra- A Co-Production of West Australian Opera, ThinIce, Perth International Arts Festival and Opera Australia

Best New Australian Work

Paul Capsis, Julian Meyrick and Hilary Bell - Angela's Kitchen- Griffin Theatre Company

Best Comedy Performer

Tim Minchin - Tim Minchin vs The Orchestras Round II- Fox in the Snow

Best Cabaret Performer

Meow Meow - Little Match Girl- Malthouse Theatre in association with Meow Meow Revolution

Best Regional Touring Production

Namatjira- Big hART, created with the Namatjira family

Best Presentation for Children

Boats- Terrapin Puppet Theatre

Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production

CIRCA

Best Male Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production

Paul White - Anatomy of an Afternoon- Martin del Amo, Performing Lines and Sydney Festival

Best Female Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production

Charmene Yap - 2 One Another- Sydney Dance Company

Best Male Performer in an Opera

Anthony Dean Griffey - Of Mice & Men- Opera Australia

Best Female Performer in an Opera

Emma Matthews - La Traviata- Opera Australia - Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Best Male Actor in a Musical

Mitchell Butel - The Mikado- Opera Australia

Best Female Actor in a Musical

Pamela Rabe - Grey Gardens - The Production Company

Best Male Actor in a Play

Paul Capsis - Angela's Kitchen- Griffin Theatre Company

Best Female Actor in a Play

Cate Blanchett - Gross und Klein (Big and Small)- Sydney Theatre Company

Best Ballet or Dance Work

Can We Talk About This?- Presented by DV8 Physical Theatre and Sydney Opera House. Co-produced with Théâtre de la Ville and Festival d'Automne, Paris, National Theatre of Great Britain and Dansens Hus Stockholm.

Best Opera

Moby Dick- State Opera of South Australia

Best Play

Ganesh Versus the Third Reich - Presented by Back to Back Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival

Best Musical

A Chorus Line - Tim Lawson in association with the Adelaide Festival Centre

Each year Live Performance Australia gives two JC Williamson Awards^TM  to distinguished members of Australia's live entertainment industry for their extraordinary contribution to the industry. Katharine Brisbane of Currency Press was recognized, along with the late Jimmy Little AO.

Retiring Executive Producer Jon Nichols was also recognized with an Outstanding Contribution award.

The Helpmann Awards®, established in 2001 by Live Performance Australia (LPA), will be broadcast exclusively live on Tuesday 25 September at 8.30pm on Australia’s arts and entertainment channel STUDIO – channel 132 on Foxtel.